Wiki Factory Racing

This year has already presented itself with plenty of high's and low's. I went in to the event feeling as prepared as I had ever been and thankful to actually make it to the start line (for once). I had a good win in the legs from Around Brunner, however I also had my first swim in the Waimak in 5 years... fun times. Overall I was looking forward to getting out there and enjoying the day. My plan for the day was to start steady to ensure I got to the run feeling fresh and ready to run hard. I had no intention of coming off the bike in the front bunch. So when I found myself dragged up the road to the first bunch after a very steady run (9:00 vs the leaders 7:30), I was surprised and happy to be in a good position. It was now just a matter of sitting on the back, doing very little work, and letting the race be decided later. It was the best ride I've had in years, super relaxed atmosphere and a nice consistent pace to keep the legs feeling good. I actually mus...

Two thoughts from my experiences at Around Brunner: 1) Kayaking and Running definitely helps make you a stronger cyclist 2) I feel safer in a bunch of Multisporters than New Zealand's 'elite' cyclists As many of you may know, my troubles with Paroxysmal SVT have come back. Having this occur the weekend before a race is slightly concerning and lead to lots of decision making and doctors visits for second opinions. While I've been told its not "life threatening", its still concerning due to the number of cases of people suddenly dying. Unfortunately (fortunately perhaps?) the only way to figure out exactly whats going on and form some sort of management plan is to catch an episode, and the best way for that to happen is for me to race. So the decision was made and Rosey and I were on the way to the Coast with my new bike to give Around Brunner a crack. The original reason to enter this event was to test out my cycling fitness 2 weeks out from Coast to Coa...

After last years win in the Junior category I was looking forward to competing in the Open Men's division and hopefully getting the win. However it became apparent that I wouldn't be given leave again to race and would have to set up the safety and look after the competitors. With the weather forecast looking marginal and a lot of rain in the mountains, we made the decision to move the race from the Waimak Gorge (Coast to Coast course), down to the lower Waimak. The new course had a good combination of downstream river paddling, flatwater and a nasty upstream stretch to the finish line. However much I was jealous of the racers, it was nice just standing on the river bank in the sun watching everyone I have either competed against, or trained up myself, paddling by. Its always a good feeling knowing I contributed to their success. Hopefully next year I will be on the water myself though racing!

Sky Rock n Run on the 21st November was one of my main goals for the year after missing Coast to Coast and GODZone due to injury. It promised to be a cheap but brutal event with 3600m of climbing over 42km of trail running. It also provided me with a much needed focus over the winter on starting the long road of working on my running so it was no longer a weakness for future events. Although I knew I had substantially worked on my running and was a lot stronger than I had been before, I still had no expectation going into this event since it was also going to be my first marathon. My plan was just to run steady and try to stay running until the end. The event started well with me making a steady climb up Mt Oxford and following descent down to the first aid station (14km) in the top 15. By now the day was starting to warm up and I was beginning to notice the heat and the subsequent increase in fluid consumption. As I began the steep climb to the top of the Black Hill...

The inaugural Salmon Run multisport race was held on the 10th of October. Due to a change in work requirements, I was able to put in a last minute entry. I was super excited to be able to do a multisport race again as my last one was the Motatapu multisport race in March 2013! The event comprised of a 36k cycle, 1.5k run, 14k kayak and a 9.5k run to the finish. Despite the last minute entry, my gear was quite possibly the most prepared I have ever been for an event, with the boys at Torpedo 7 Christchurch helping to get my bike race ready. Another bonus with the last minute entry was it allowed me to just relax and have fun racing as I hadn't specifically targeted it as a must do build up event. A few treats with some Pic's Peanut Butter and some Chocolate Milk is always a good start to the day as well ;) The ride was overall slow but reasonably aggressive in nature, with the bunch seeming to never settle into a consistent pace as no one wanted to do too much work. Alex Nis...

The Bivouac Night Nav Series was made up of 3 events held at Vic Park, Spencer Park and Halswell Quarry. I went in to the first event expecting to do well due to my recent results at rogaines and my improvement in running form over the last few months. But man did I get a wake up call! I struggled to find check points accurately and wasted a lot of time not taking direct routes. In the end I finished in a very average 12th place with a 20 point penalty for returning late. The second event was held at Spencer Park and I knew this would be a tough event for me as I had never done any navigation in a forest before and the organisers had decided to give us an orienteering map (which I had never looked at before) instead of the standard topo map. It actually started reasonably well for me, finding the first 10 check points fairly quickly and easily, it was after this that I got mega disorientated and began wasting lots of time. By the time I worked out where I wa...

The South Canterbury Adventure Race Club have a reputation of putting on awesome events and this years 12 hour AR was no exception. After placing 4th at last years event, I was hoping for another good result despite being in a different team, this time with my GODZone 2016 team. The event didn't start great with Blake being unable to attend last moment after collapsing in his driveway just before driving down, and my dad was also run down with flu, but chose to attempt to push through. 23 teams braved the challenging conditions for this years 12hr AR at Blue Mountain and Lochaber stations. Teams had the choice to either bike or run first, with 14 teams choosing to do the bike leg first. I made the decision during the night to do the bike first, thinking it would be easier on my dad to maintain a decent pace on the bike, then we could assess the situation and he could pull out if need be. We woke up in the morning to a decent frost, confirming that biking first was a good idea, ...